Grow or die. It's the governing principle of companies, investment portfolios, national economies, and even philanthropic foundations. Oh, and cancer. Asher, Jason, and Rob lay bare the stats on everything from human population, energy consumption, global GDP, greenhouse gas emissions, and the size of cars and cruise ships, before concluding that the global economy should be named after the Wendigo from Algonquian folklore. They turn to the natural world for examples of self-regulation, along with promising new economic frameworks and on-the-ground models, for how to end Wendigo economics before it ends us.Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.

Sources/Links/Notes:

• Timeline of Sarah Winchester's story
• Timeline of the largest passenger boats
• Parks and Rec clip on soda sizes
• Kaitlin Smith, "More Than Monsters: The Deeper Significance of Wendigo Stories"
• Winona LaDuke discusses Wendigo economics in a Yes! Magazine online conversation.
• Hannah and Kevin Salwen, The Power of Half: One Family's Decision to Stop Taking and Start Giving Back
• CBS news story about a family giving away half their income
• SparkToro, an unusual tech company that doesn't believe bigger is better
• Report: Resilient Biocultural Heritage Landscapes for Sustainable Mountain Development, which contains information about Peru's Potato Park
• Krystyna Swiderska, "Here's why Indigenous economics is the key to saving nature"
• Al Bartlett lecturing on exponential growth

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From the top of a skyscraper in Dubai, Jason, Rob, and Asher chug margaritas made from the purest Greenland glacier ice as they cover the "merits" of globalism. International trade brings so many things, like murder hornets, piles of plastic tchotchkes, and deadly supply chain disruptions. The opposite of globalism is localism -- learn how to build a secure local economy that can keep Asher alive, hopefully at least through the end of the season.Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.

Sources/Links/Notes:

• Guardian article about shipping Greenland glacier ice to Dubai
• Wired article that tells the story of the Ever Given and all the supply chain problems that ensued
• The Observatory of Economic Complexity compiles statistics on global economic activity with interesting graphics, including this profile of China's trade.
• Michael Carolan's book Cheaponomics: The High Cost of Low Prices, and his follow-up book The Real Cost of Cheap Food
• Vasilis Kostakis's article on cosmolocalism
• Vicki Robin's book Blessing the Hands that Feed Us
• Website for Fibershed
• Molly Scott Cato's book The Bioregional Economy: Land, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

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Modern humans have a Stockholm Syndrome relationship to technology, which has kidnapped us while convincing us it has our best interests in mind. But when one looks back at the history of plastics or the current frenzy around AI, it isn't hard to see the insanity of doubling down on new technology to save us from previous technology. Find out what a person or society can actually do to develop a healthy, non-abusive relationship with technology, aside from joining an Amish community or going "full Kaczynski."Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.

Sources/Links/Notes:

• Moriah McDonald reports on the big underestimates of Greenland ice loss in Inside Climate News.
• Typical article about how AI can solve climate change
• Another such article about the "magic" of AI
• And another -- sheesh (no wonder Jason was so upset)!
• Report on the future of petrochemicals from the International Energy Agency
• Kelly Oakes of the BBC asks, "What would happen if we stopped using plastic?"
• Website of The Ocean Cleanup
• Low Tech Magazine
• Low Technology Institute's 10-Mile Building Challenge
• Sulan Chen writes for UNDP, "A global treaty to end plastic pollution is in sight."
• BBC reporting on the EU's efforts to regulate AI

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Consult your inner tortoise to find novel ways of slowing down and living the good life. In a world haunted by just-in-time delivery, hyperactive business, accelerating environmental calamities, and metric tons of stress, Jason, Rob, and Asher work at a fast and furious pace to savor the moments, because there aren't many left.Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.

Sources/Links/Notes:

• Top 10 most unrealistic car crashes in movies
• Clip from the movie The Blues Brothers
• Clip from the movie Speed
• Clip from the movie Live Free or Die Hard
• Clip from the movie Furious 7
• Definition  of high frequency trading
• Graphical representation of the 01-15-new-planetary-dashboard-shows-increasing-human-impact.html">Great Acceleration
• Interview with Hartmut Rosa
• Bart Zantvoort's article about Harmut Rosa's work
• Article about social acceleration by Bettina Hollstein and Hartmut Rosa in the Journal of Business Ethics
• Podcast episode about shrinking attention spans (episode 225 of Speaking of Psychology)
• Article about technology and perception of time by Fiona MacDonald in ScienceAlert

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Did a whimsical 1960s TV sitcom presage climate migration and a reversal of urban growth? We're not calling for a Godzilla-esque teardown of cities, but climate change is forcing a serious urban rethink. Jason, Rob, and Asher offer visions of better infrastructure, policies, and culture that you can embrace, even if your home is in the city.Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.

Sources/Links/Notes:

• Wikipedia page for Paul Henning, creative force behind the spate of 1960s rural sitcoms.
• The Rural Climate Dialogues: A Community-Driven Roadmap for Climate Action in Rural Minnesota is a report by Tara Ritter with good summary statistics on the rural U.S.
• “Total and urban population” in UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics 2023.
• United Nations prediction about urban migration.
• “minnesota-climate-change.html">Out-of-Towners Head to ‘Climate-Proof Duluth,’” article by Debra Kamin in the New York Times.
• “Indonesia Is Moving its Capital to a Futuristic, Green City,” article by Katherine McLaughlin in Architectural Digest.
• Anthropogenic mass – the weight of everything humanity has built, statistics from the World Economic Forum..
• Analysis of transportation-related energy consumption and urban density, published in “U.S. Cities Factsheet” from the University of Michigan Center for Sustainable Systems.
• The 15-Minute City
• Retrosuburbia: The Downshifter’s Guide to a Resilient Future, book by David Holmgren.
• Global Ecovillage Network
• Daily Acts
• StoveTeam International
• One Planet Council

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If American consumers ever come up for air under the pile of crap in their storage units, they find themselves face to face with a materialistic hellscape of megastores, McMansions, endless fleets of delivery trucks, and evil hordes of targeted ads. But help is on the way. Jason, Rob, and Asher present ideas for shaping up a world beyond consumerism.Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.

Sources/Links/Notes:

• The original (and both catchy and annoying) Toys “R” Us theme song
• The melancholy remake of the theme song for a bankrupt Toys “R” Us, performed by Chase Holfelder
• U.S. Material Use Factsheet
• United Nations statistics on material footprint
• Self storage industry trends
• The environmental costs of fast fashion
• Story by Beth Porter, “What Really Happens to Unwanted Clothes?”
• Forbes list of billionaires
• George Carlin’s classic comedic bit about “stuff”
• Sandra Goldmark’s book Fixation: How to Have Stuff without Breaking the Planet

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Jason, Rob, and Asher take a tour of New Caledonia, California's Central Valley, Bhutan, and Cuba to uncover the ins and outs of industrialism, especially as it has been applied to agriculture. Along the way they riff on how the hell we can escape from an -ism that completely engulfs us.Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.

Sources/Links/Notes:

• Tom Murphy “does the math” on declining wild mammal mass.
• Understanding the primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary sectors of the economy.
• USDA graphic and statistics on the scale of family farms.
• Our World in Data: “Farm Size and Productivity”.
• Video clip from Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.
• Hossain, S., Jami, A.T. (2023). “Opportunities and Challenges in Sustainable Development and Governance in South Asia: Case Study of Bhutan.” In: Wu, HH., Liu, WY., Huang, M.C. (eds) Moving Toward Net-Zero Carbon Society. Springer Climate.
• Arch Ritter, “Can Cuba Recover from its De-Industrialization?”.
• Julia Wright, “The Little-Studied Success Story of Post-Crisis Food Security in Cuba: Does Lack of International Interest Signify Lack of Political Will?” International Journal of Cuban Studies, vol. 4, no. 2, 2012, pp. 130–53.

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Escape Routes! That's the theme of the sixth season of Crazy Town. We're exploring how to escape industrialism, consumerism, globalism, capitalism, and all the other -isms that are causing a polycrisis of environmental and social breakdown. Most of all, Jason, Rob, and Asher are looking to maintain their sense of humor while escaping fatalism and finding meaningful ways to avoid collapse.

Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.

Sources/Links/Notes:

• Wikipedia article on China’s Mango Cult
• France’s Dancing Plague of 1518
• Geoffrey Cohen, Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides, W. W. Norton, 2022
• Asch line experiment
• Bystander Intervention Tip Sheet
• Summary of Marvin Harris’s work on cultural materialism
• Research that extends Asch’s conformity experiments and highlights the personality trait of openness as a key to resisting the behavior of conforming.
• Big Five Personality Assessment
• Othering and Belonging Institute at the University of California, Berkeley

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Join us on March 13, 2024 for the launch of our sixth season, in which Jason, Rob, and Asher explore escape routes from industrialism, capitalism, consumerism, and a bunch of other "-isms" that are causing the polycrisis of environmental and social breakdown.

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LaUra Schmidt visits Crazy Town to discuss her work with the Good Grief Network and her book, How to Live in a Chaotic Climate: 10 Steps to Reconnect with Ourselves, Our Communities, and Our Planet. Along the way, she shares wisdom and insights on courage, taking meaningful action, terror management theory, and practices for processing the strong emotions that accompany facing climate change and other aspects of the polycrisis.Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.Sources/Links/Notes:

• to-live-in-a-chaotic-climate.html">LaUra's book, How to Live in a Chaotic Climate: 10 Steps to Reconnect with Ourselves, Our Communities, and Our Planet
• The Good Grief Network's 10 Step Program
• LaUra mentioned Bayo Akomolafe and his work on "questioning our questions."
• Joanna Macy and The Work That Reconnects
• Video of Dr. Andrew Weil's 4-7-8 breathing technique
• David Graeber's book Bullshit Jobs
• Crazy Town episode 34, "Fear of Death and Climate Denial, or... the Story of Wolverine and the Screaming Mole of Doom"
• Fiftieth anniversary of-death-ernest-becker.html">book review in the New York Times: Ernest Becker's The Denial of Death
• Ayisha Siddiqa's poem "On Another Panel about Climate, They Ask Me to Sell the Future and All I've Got Is a Love Poem"

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